If you’ve lived through a spring thaw and a January cold snap in London, Ontario, you already know the city’s weather writes its own script. That script dictates how often your windows look presentable, how safe it is to clean them, what products actually work, and whether eavestroughs carry water or freeze solid. I run a window cleaning company that schedules several thousand panes a year in this region. The calendar gets rewritten by frost, wind, pollen, and lake-effect surprises. Good planning respects the forecast, but experience fills in the gaps.
Below is a practical guide to timing residential window cleaning and exterior house cleaning around London’s seasons, with specifics on products, techniques, and safety. The goal isn’t a perfect schedule, it’s smart rhythm. Clean when the result will last, reschedule when weather will waste your effort, and lean on professional window cleaning services when risk or complexity goes up.
The rhythm of a London year
Our climate is four seasons in full color. Track a year and you’ll notice windows collect different grime as weather changes. Road salt and slush in late winter, tree buds and pollen in spring, spider webs and dust in summer, leaf tannins and rain streaks in autumn. No single frequency suits every home, but most homeowners who care about a crisp view land on two to three cleanings per year, clustered around late spring and early fall, with optional winter maintenance for high-visibility glass.
If you’re searching window cleaning London or window cleaning London Ontario online, you’ll find schedules all over the map. The one that sticks is the one that considers your exposure. A house near a busy corridor like Wonderland or Fanshawe often needs more frequent service because of traffic dust. Properties under mature maples or poplars see sticky buildup and pollen cycles that differ from newer subdivisions. Waterfront breeze toward the southwest edge can carry grit farther than you’d expect.
Winter: cold, salt, low sun, and patience
Between December and March, windows collect salt haze from plows and slushy spray. But deep cold complicates cleaning. Traditional solutions freeze on the glass, squeegee rubber stiffens, and aluminum ladders conduct cold that numbs hands fast.
We clean in winter, but we adjust. If the daytime high is around minus 10 C or colder with wind, results suffer and safety risk rises. On days hovering around minus 3 to plus 3 with sun and light wind, you can still get a sharp finish with the right recipe. Add an isopropyl alcohol blend to reduce freeze on contact, swap to soft rubber inserts, and keep buckets warm. For DIY, a squeeze bottle mixed with alcohol and a drop of dish soap works on small panes, especially interior side condensate stains that show when the low winter sun slants across the room.
The bigger challenge isn’t the outside alone. Entryway glass fogs, patio doors develop mineral trails from melting snow boots, and condensation along the lower edge can stain frames if left for months. Winter is also when eavestroughs show whether they’re moving water. If they’re clogged, meltwater spills behind fascia or over walkways where it refreezes. Eavestrough cleaning services before freeze-up pay for themselves in avoided ice problems.
Timing matters. If you must book a winter slot, aim for a stretch with stable temperatures and weak winds, ideally after roads dry from the last storm. The result lasts longer and the crew won’t fight ice at the sill. Professional window cleaning services will often watch the forecast 48 hours ahead and shuffle slots to protect quality. If your window cleaning company proposes a shift by a day, it’s usually because they’ve seen how a cold snap wastes a clean.
Spring: pollen, bud sap, and the first big reset
The most satisfying clean of the year happens after winter’s grit finally gives way. London’s spring pushes buds quickly. Tree pollen rides every breeze, and in some weeks you can write your name in the dust on a sill. Combine that with sap mist from nearby trees and your glass can pick up a sticky layer that doesn’t rinse with rain. DIY attempts often smear it around.
The best window cleaning service window is often late May to early June, once the heaviest pollen week has passed and seed fluff has calmed down. If you move too early, you’ll see haze return within days. If you wait too long, you might fight spider season. On the tools side, a standard soap solution cuts pollen, but sap stains on exterior panes respond better to a small addition of vinegar or a specialized glass-safe solvent, always followed by a thorough rinse so nothing dries on the surface.
This is also the moment to look beyond the glass. Vinyl siding cleaning in spring removes winter film and road dust that streaks down during rain, re-dirtying your panes. Gutter touch-ups catch late leaf mulch left behind from fall. When homeowners bundle exterior house cleaning with window cleaning, they reduce recontamination and buy themselves a longer period of clear views.
A note on screens. Many London homes use fine-mesh screens that catch winter grit. If they stay in place, spring breezes push that grit back onto the glass. Wash or at least brush screens before you clean the exterior panes. We see a 15 to 25 percent improvement in “stay clean time” when screens are serviced at the same visit.
Summer: heat, sun angle, sprinklers, and spider habits
Summer should be easy, but heat changes the way water behaves. On a south elevation in July, glass can hit temperatures where solution flashes dry before you squeegee. That leaves arcs and chatter marks. Professionals work shade first, then follow the sun, using more water for cooling and faster strokes. For residential window cleaning, mornings beat afternoons. A homeowner washing at two in the afternoon on a 30 C day will chase streaks and swear at the sky.
Sprinkler systems cause a different problem. Hard water droplets dry into mineral rings that won’t wipe off. If your lawn sprinklers pepper a bay window, redirect the heads or expect to use a mild acid-based remover a few times each season. Be careful with products; some etch if misused and can dull low-E coatings. When in doubt, call a window cleaning company that can test a small area first.
Summer also invites spiders to set up shop along frames and at upper corners under soffits. Their webs catch dust and pollen, blowing debris against the glass. A soft brush pre-pass clears that mess before you wet the pane. Skip this step and you’ll end up smearing web residue across the glass. If you keep returning webs on one shady side, ask about a gentle perimeter treatment from a licensed pest service. Even with treatment, expect some rebuild. Nature is persistent.
Autumn: leaves, tannins, and timing before the freeze
Autumn is London’s second prime cleaning season. Aim between late September and mid-November, bracketing your neighborhood’s leaf drop. Clean too early, and the tannin stains that drain off gutters and fascia will mark the glass again. Clean too late, and you risk icy mornings where solution misbehaves and crews need to de-ice ladders.
Eavestrough cleaning London Ontario becomes more urgent here. Leaves and seed pods mat down and trap roof grit. When the first freeze arrives, that mat holds moisture against the trough and accelerates corrosion. Then melting events push water over the lip, staining down the pane below. Gutter guards help, but they are not a set-and-forget solution in our mix of leaf sizes and pine needles. A visual once-over after the heaviest drop saves headaches.
Autumn also brings low-angle rain driven by wind. Wind-blown rain deposits dirt unevenly, so you’ll often see vertical arcs on leeward side windows. Hydrophilic glass treatments can reduce spotting, but results vary. I’ve seen treatments extend cleanliness two to three months on some exposures, not at all on others. Treat them as a complement to regular cleaning, not a replacement.
Rain, snow, and the myth of “don’t clean if it rains”
One of the more persistent myths in window cleaning London conversations is that rain ruins a fresh clean. Clean glass does not spot when it rains; dirty sills and frames do. If frames drip grime during a storm, that grime rides the rainwater onto your panes. The fix is thorough frame washing, not hiding from rain. A light shower the day after a professional clean rarely affects the result if the frames were properly flushed.
Snowstorms are different. When wind drives snow and road spray against leeward windows, the melt lines can leave marks, especially on lower panes near walkways. In midwinter, I advise clients to treat especially dirty lower panes as maintenance targets. A quick touch-up on the two or three worst offenders keeps the view tolerable until spring, without paying for a full-home service during harsh spells.
Water quality and runoff in London
Our municipal water is moderately hard. If you use tap water in a bucket and the pane dries in sun, expect faint mineral residue. Wipe technique can overcome it indoors, but outdoors in heat, it’s hard to avoid. That’s why professional window cleaning companies often use purified water systems. A scrub with pure water and a water-fed pole leaves no mineral to mark the glass when it air-dries. From a driveway you might just see a man with a brush and hose; the quiet hero is the filter resin taking dissolved solids down to near zero.
For DIY, you can still succeed. Work in shade, keep the glass wet until you squeegee, and dry the edges with a clean towel. If you notice chalky arcs that keep reappearing on sun-exposed panes, that’s mineral. Stop and re-wet, then squeegee once more. The longer the solution sits as it dries, the tougher the mark.
Scheduling strategy by season
Every home differs, but the weather pattern pushes you to a few reliable windows of opportunity. If you like simplicity, treat your home in two beats: late spring and mid fall. Those two sessions capture the post-pollen reset and the pre-freeze clean that protects sills, frames, and your winter view. If you have heavy exposure to traffic or trees, add a light summer maintenance pass.
Here’s a straightforward, weather-aware way to plan without micromanaging forecasts.
- Late May to mid June: full exterior window and frame wash, screens cleaned, optional vinyl siding cleaning. Pollen peak is mostly done and temperatures are friendly. Late September to early November: full exterior wash, eavestrough cleaning services, downspout checks, and touch-up of storm-facing panes. Target after the main leaf drop, before consistent frost.
Beyond this, keep a flexible maintenance attitude. Book a tentative winter slot if your front-facing glass drives you crazy, but be ready to slide it for safety and quality. If you search window cleaning near me and see companies pushing winter marketing, ask how they mitigate freeze risk and what their rescheduling policy looks like when the wind chill falls.
Safety and practicality for homeowners
I never talk about cleaning schedules without talking about ladders. Wet aluminum on frozen ground, wind gusts around open gables, and gloved hands that reduce grip are a bad mix. Professionals use stabilizers, tie-offs, and sometimes skip ladders altogether in favor of water-fed poles from the ground. If you’re set on DIY for a second story in winter, reconsider. Cost savings vanish the minute you slip.
Indoors, be mindful of low winter humidity. Dry houses create static that pulls dust from cloths back to the pane. Use a slightly damp microfiber for detailing, not an over-dry one, and avoid fabric softener on glass towels. It leaves hydrophobic residue that fights you later.
As for products, don’t overcomplicate things. A simple concentrate designed for glass in cold and warm water versions, plus an alcohol additive for freezing days, covers 95 percent of jobs. Harsh degreasers belong on garage floors, not on double-pane low-E glass with factory coatings.
How weather interacts with window types and house design
Not all glass is equal. Coated low-E panes reflect more heat, changing how quickly they heat up in sun. In summer, that can produce faster dry times and make streak control more demanding. Older storm windows trap moisture between layers; if those layers aren’t vented, spring warmth fogs them. Cleaning the outer surface won’t help. The fix is to open them slightly and let the cavity breathe, then clean both surfaces.
Design details matter. Deep overhangs protect south windows from summer sun and rain, which makes them hold a clean longer. Narrow sills with poor drip edges dump water down the wall and over lower panes, streaking them faster. If your architect didn’t love drip edges, your best defense is regular frame washing to remove the grime that rain will otherwise carry.
Eavestroughs and the weather chain reaction
Eavestrough cleaning London Ontario is a weather story as much as it is a maintenance task. A sudden thaw after a heavy snowfall sends meltwater racing. If troughs are clogged, water spills over and stains the glass below, then refreezes across steps and walkways. Midwinter service can help in a warm spell, but the smarter plan is a thorough fall cleaning plus a spring check if your roof throws lots of granules.
Downspouts need attention too. Elbows clog with maple seeds and roof grit, then act like a garden drip on lower windows during rain. That drip creates brown arcs that even a good pane wash struggles to erase if they’ve baked on in summer sun. An extra five-minute downspout flush at your fall service prevents a season of ugly streaks.
exterior house cleaningWhen to call a pro and what to ask
If you’re comparing local window cleaning services, weather-literate scheduling is a sign of a competent outfit. Ask how they handle wind advisories on high ladder work, what they add to solution when the temperature dips, and whether their teams are trained on water-fed poles for icy ground conditions. If they also offer vinyl siding cleaning and exterior house cleaning, see if they can sequence tasks to reduce re-dirtying the glass.
Price is not the only variable. The cheapest window cleaning companies often skip frame washing to hit a number, and those unwashed frames undo your clean when rain hits. Look for a window cleaning service that includes frames and screens in a package, or at least explains the implications of not doing them.
If you have specialty glass, say stained glass panels or older wavy panes in a heritage home, discuss methods and insurance. London has a fair share of century homes where loose glazing putty flakes, and water intrusion ruins plaster. A professional will tape test, use softer brushes, and reduce pressure near vulnerable points.
Real-world examples from a year in the field
A north London client near a busy arterial road booked a March clean on a sunny day after a thaw. The daytime high was plus 2 and the wind felt easy at ground level. At the second story, wind gusts turned solution to beads that flash-dried around corners. We pulled out and rescheduled for a slightly warmer, calmer day two days later. The difference was night and day. The panes stayed wet long enough to finish properly, and the finish lasted well into May.
Another home in Old South sits under two massive oaks. They preferred early May cleaning for a big Mother’s Day event. We did it, but I warned them pollen would bloom. Sure enough, a yellow film reappeared within a week. We built a plan to do a light touch-up on exposed panes in early June at a reduced rate. The main service still gave the house a lift, but we acknowledged the tree cycle and adjusted.
On a townhouse complex near White Oaks, irrigation overspray pelted ground-floor windows every other morning. The HOA initially scheduled three full cleans per year and grew frustrated by quick spotting. We walked the property with their landscaper to pivot sprinkler heads, reduced over-spray by 80 percent, and cut their schedule to two thorough cleans with spot mineral removal visits only where needed. Weather and water management beat brute-force frequency.
Building your weather-smart plan
You do not need to become a meteorologist to keep glass clean in this city. A few habits carry most of the load. Watch for pollen peaks in late spring and avoid those weeks for your main clean. Let the leaves finish their big drop before fall service. Keep gutters moving water, because stained glass begins with messy runoff. Adjust for exposure: traffic-facing and sprinkler-exposed panes need extra attention. In deep cold, shift schedules rather than force a result that won’t hold.
If you search for window cleaning near me, prioritize providers who speak fluently about these constraints. They’ll suggest windows that align with weather patterns, not just their calendar capacity. And if you’re determined to handle some of it yourself, focus your energy where it buys the most: frames, screens, and the few problem panes that collect the worst of what the weather throws.
Quick reference: weather triggers that change your schedule
- Pollen surge visible on cars and sills: wait a week before full exterior cleaning unless you have an event. Multi-day rain followed by wind: expect leeward streaks; a light touch-up might be enough. First hard frost forecast: aim to finish fall eavestrough cleaning services and exterior washing before it hits. Heat above 28 C with direct sun on glass: schedule morning cleaning or focus on shaded elevations.
Window Window cleaning service cleaning in London is a dance with weather, not a fight. When you time the steps to the season, your glass stays clear longer, your sills stay cleaner, and your budget stretches farther. Pair that timing with a reliable, weather-savvy window cleaning company, and your home will look like it skips the gritty side of our climate altogether, at least from the inside looking out.
Clearview Brothers Window Cleaning London, ON (226) 239-5841
Clearview Brothers provides professional window cleaning, eavestrough cleaning, siding cleaning, and screen cleaning services in London, Ontario. Their eco-friendly methods and advanced equipment deliver streak-free windows, clear gutters, and refreshed exteriors that enhance curb appeal and protect your home.